The case involves Lt. Greg Brachle who shot Det. Jacob Grant on Jan. 9 during an undercover drug bust near Central and Tramway.

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case of an Albuquerque Police Department lieutenant who shot a fellow police officer nine times during a $60 drug bust to determine if charges should be filed against the lieutenant.

The DA’s office got the police reports and other documents on the case from the APD on Oct. 5, DA spokeswoman Kayla Anderson told ABQ Free Press on Friday. DA Kari Brandenburg had requested the files on Sept. 4 from Police Chief Gorden Eden, but hadn’t gotten an immediate response from the chief.

The case involves Lt. Greg Brachle who shot Det. Jacob Grant on Jan. 9 during an undercover drug bust near Central and Tramway. Grant was critically injured during the incident and will require a lifetime of medical care, according to a civil rights lawsuit he has filed against APD and Brachle.

Brandenburg was not immediately available for comment on Friday.

According to his lawsuit, Grant, an 11-year APD veteran, was shot nine times by Brachle with a .45 caliber handgun from a distance of less than five feet during the drug bust. “Det. Grant suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the shooting and almost tragically died,” the lawsuit said. “All, or almost all, of Det. Grant’s vital organs were shot, damaged, injured or otherwise seriously or detrimentally affected by the shooting.”

In a written statement to ABQ Free Press, Grant’s attorney, Alex Gabaldon, said this about his client’s injuries:

“As a result of being shot nine (9) times at close range with a .45 caliber handgun, Det. Grant suffered critical bullet entry and exit injuries to his neck, shoulder, stomach, hands, colon, bilateral diaphragms, spleen, liver, pancreas, kidney, clavicle, ribs, and to numerous nerves, tendons and ligaments. Doctors have still been unable to remove some of the bullets and shrapnel from his body.

“On the day of the shooting, Det. Grant’s injuries were so severe that his doctors doubted that he would survive. Det. Grant was in the hospital for months and he has undergone dozens of procedures and operations. Det. Grant has multiple upcoming procedures and surgeries, including two extremely complex surgeries where surgeons will attempt to reconstruct his abdominal wall.

The lawsuit alleged that Grant had worked under Brachle’s supervision for two years before the shooting and that Brachle should have recognized the detective before he started firing his weapon that day. Brachle also knew, or should have known, that according to APD policy, undercover officers on drug cases always sit in the front driver’s side seat of a car, and/or in the rear driver’s side seat, the lawsuit said. Grant was sitting in the rear driver’s side seat that day.— Dennis Domrzalski